Seeds of Hope
Chésa7 (Gwen Harry) is an Elder of Kwakwaka’wakw and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh descent, granddaughter of Chief Joe and Mary Capilano.
Taken from her family at five years old to St. Michael’s Residential School, she was raised in the harsh world of institutions meant break her spirit. Against odds, Gwen alchemised her traumatic experience into a greater purpose. She dedicates her life advocating for children, education, and for community. At a time when residential schools were still operating, she co-started the Totem Pole Preschool, rewriting the future for the next generation.
Today, her legacy lives on through her and her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren; leaders, artists, and stewards of land and culture. Sitting in a circle, watching the little ones sing the Women Warriors Song, Gwen witnesses what has endured.
Seeds of Hope is a testament to that journey.
A story of family.
A story of culture.
A story of the quiet power that arises when hardship transmutes into purpose.
It’s also an invitation - to witness, to reflect, and to continue the work.
Director’s Statement
This story began not as a film or a documentary, but as a listening practice.
Listening to the heroic courage of Gwen Harry, and how she single-handedly saved her family from the brink of extinction, and how her legacy now helps guide the Squamish people into the modern age.
When I first encountered Gwen Harry of the Squamish Nation, it became immediately clear that family, language, and tradition are not abstract values, but living forces.
The essence of who Gwen Harry was ninety years ago, and who she is today, is being passed on through her children, her grandchildren, and her people.
This documentary exists because of that spiritual strength.
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